The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei

(TL: Going forward, the ‘Goddess’ from Dragon God Island will be ‘Priestess’. Explanation at the end of the chapter.)

The name of the small Dragonman was Pannata. For now, Lukas decided to follow them.

He didn’t believe anything Pannata had told him so far. In fact, his words only made his doubts worse.

Nevertheless, the ring was pointed in the same direction as their settlement, and Lukas had a feeling that he could learn something by going with them.

‘They have no intention of letting me go anyway.’

He wasn’t sure whether it was because they wanted to eat him or if they had another goal.

However, Lukas also had his own plans. He glanced down at the ring.

“We’re here.”

The Dragonman settlement, where they arrived after a short while, was a desolate place.

There were no buildings. It would be too difficult to gather enough materials for that in the first place. Instead, the Dragonmen dug several large pits, which they used as houses.

The settlement was roughly the size of a small village, and the population appeared to be less than 100.

Lukas looked at these pits for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Pannata, I would like to ask you a question.”

“What is it?”

“My companion that you’re protecting. Did she tell you her name?”

“She didn’t. She was unconscious.”

“Then what does she look like?”

Pannata frowned and replied.

“Didn’t you say she was a young female? That’s what she looks like.”

“Right. Then I’ll ask in more detail. What colour were her eyes?”

“…I don’t know. She never opened her eyes.”

“I see. Then I’ll ask one last question.”

By this time, all the Dragonmen that had come with him as well as the others from the village had completely surrounded Lukas. Even the young Dragonmen were among them.

Lukas realised that he was surrounded, but he continued speaking without a change of expression.

“What color was her hair?”

“…”

“It seems you can’t answer this. Why is that? Could it be that all her hair was gone?”

Pannata finally turned to look at Lukas. Then he looked at Lukas’ hair and said,

“…gold.”

Pftt.

A small scoff escaped Lukas’ lips.

Pannata chuckled softly as well.

He didn’t show any embarrassment even when his lies were finally exposed.

“As expected, it’s really difficult to trick others. Well, I guess it could be considered a success since I managed to bring you to the village.”

“Was everything you said a lie?”

“Right. If we found a wounded outsider, we would just eat them on the spot.”

That’s what he thought.

They were savages who considered even their own dead as meat, so he didn’t think they would go out of their way to rescue and protect an injured outsider.

Nevertheless, there was a reason that Lukas followed Pannata so easily.

“I would like to ask you something.”

“Do you think I’ll give you an answer?”

“I will soon be eaten by you guys anyway, so you can at least show a bit of generosity.”

“…”

Pannata’s eyes narrowed slightly. This guy really was different from those shrimps from Dragon God Island.

He wasn’t sure if he should call it bravery or disregard.

Nevertheless, he was curious about what this guy would say next, so he decided to play along.

“Ask your question.”

“Why didn’t you guys kill and eat me on the spot?”

“You’re probably fairly strong.”

Pannata muttered softly before shaking his head.

“If we tried to capture you on the spot, we’d probably receive heavy losses. After all, we were all exhausted from hunting the Ancient Dragon.”

“…capture?”

“Right.”

“You weren’t intending to eat me on the spot?”

“You’re an offering. We have no intention of eating you.”

Offering.

It was a rather strange word for a savage to use.

“Whose?”

“That’s not something you need to know. What do you intend to do now? It doesn’t matter if you fight back, but you can give up the thought of dying comfortably if you do. The first thing we’d do is make it so you can’t even lift a single finger.”

To be precise, they would cut off his hands and legs before cutting his neck and draining most of his blood. They would only stop the bleeding when he was close to death.

Of course, if they did do that, he would no longer be considered a fresh offering, but he would still be just enough.

Lukas thought for a while before saying.

“If I give in, will you tell me the things I’m curious about?”

“What did you say?”

“I have a few questions about this island.”

“…”

As expected, this fellow was really strange.

Pannata couldn’t contain his shock when he saw this man using his own life to make bargains.

“Do you understand what it means to be an offering?”

“Doesn’t it mean you’re going to sacrifice me?”

“Right. You will die.”

Of course, Lukas didn’t intend to die, but he still nodded.

“When is the offering ceremony?”

“A few hours from now.”

“Then that means you’ll have to keep me alive till then. In other words, you cannot hurt me arbitrarily since it would be bad to damage the offering. Am I wrong?”

“…you’re not wrong, but…”

“So before I die, I would like you to answer my questions.”

“I can’t-”

“If you refuse, I will fight back with everything I have. You just said it yourself that I seem to be fairly strong. You weren’t wrong. I am confident that I can take down at least half of your village before you manage to defeat me.”

Of course, the truth was that it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to wipe them all out, but he needed to emphasise his threat level without pushing them too far.

In any case, he estimated that it would take about 2,000 mana to deal with all of them, which was too wasteful.

“…”

Wondering what he was up to, Pannata stared at him for a while before sighing and pointing at one of the pits.

“Get in there first.”

Lukas did just that.

The pit he jumped into was much deeper than the others, and its structure made it so that it was easy to get in, but difficult to get out of.

Pannata followed him in, while another five Dragonmen immediately surrounded the pit. It seemed that they would not tolerate any nonsense.

Lukas decided to not waste any time.

“The demonic energy in the central region is much stronger than anywhere else on the island. I would like to know why.”

“…even the bravest Ancient Dragon wouldn’t dare to set foot in the central region. Because that’s the ruler of the island’s territory.”

“The ruler of the island? There was such a thing?”

“Right. He knows everything that happens on the island.”

Was it someone like the Priestess?

Lukas knew that the Heavenly Realm didn’t have a ruling class.

At best, the Priestess from Dragon God Island could only be seen as the authoritative figure for that island. When it came to other islands, she could only intervene if the conflicts or chaos were things that couldn’t be left alone.

Of course, some beings wielded great power in the shadows, like Kangki and the leaders of the underworld on Desire Island, but there were no rulers in the true sense of the name.

“What’s his name?”

“Dragon King Kazu.” (TL: Kazu?)

Dragon King. Lukas narrowed his eyes slightly before muttering.

“Is that who you intend to offer me to?”

“No. You will be sacrificed to the Goddess(1).”

(Note:

1. This is actually the word ‘goddess’. I’d basically been taking liberties by calling the ‘priestess’ ‘goddess’ because I just thought it sounded cooler. Unfortunately for me, the author decided to introduce an actual ‘goddess’, so in order to prevent any confusion, I’ll just stick to the original. Thus, the Goddess of Dragon God Island will now be the Priestess of Dragon God Island, while the woman on Death Island will be the Goddess.)